


Letting Them Know

by TheDoctorIsIcecube



Series: Empath Rhodians [2]
Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Aliens are alien, Empath Rhodians, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/TheDoctorIsIcecube
Summary: And so it comes up into conversation that Charlie can feel other people's feelings.





	

Empathy was difficult at college. Humans had lots of emotions that they felt very loudly and they wanted everyone to know how they felt at all times. Charlie could never imagine being so open, and he was glad that his people never had been. It was nothing short of overwhelming.

He did his best to hide his abilities, and to mute the noises of everyone else's emotions just a little, but it was hard. It was so hard. Especially around his friends, who felt so much so strongly. Sometimes when they did things together he just had to take a break. Human public toilets were his least favourite thing about humans, but at least they provided a convenient escape so he could sit in a slightly cool space and dispel all the feelings. And now that Matteusz knew, Charlie could come to him whenever everyone else got overwhelming and simply sit by his side, holding his hand or leaning against him, just absorbing the calmer, warmer emotions that flowed off of him.

The only problem with this was that the more the group of them ended up as friends, the more time they spent together, and the more frequently that Charlie got overwhelmed by all the emotions. And people started to notice. April started to notice that he'd pick up whenever she was worried about her heart. Ram noticed whenever Charlie would pat him on the arm and smile sympathetically, right after he'd been getting upset about Rachel. Tanya wasn't sad so much, but she got stressed- Charlie always tried to offer some help.

And, of course, when it all got too much they always noticed, because they were his friends. He was usually quite interested in their conversations, but when the emotions started building up he had to just stop, and every single time they noticed.

In the end, it was April, all concern and kindness, who confronted him about it. Not angrily, just a little worriedly- catching him alone after class one day and gently asking if everything was alright. And he didn't know what to say.

"Is there something you're anxious about, Charlie?" She asked the question as if they didn't fight aliens all the time. "Because you can talk to me, or if you get social anxiety we can try and think of a way to help."

"No! It's not that, not at all." He'd been trained since birth on how to act in social situations, after all. A prince must know how to conduct himself in front of his people. "I just...um..."

"I don't mind," she said, and her voice was so gentle. He wanted to tell her, but he still worried about seeming too different to them. "You can tell me anything, honestly."

Charlie sighed. He may as well tell her; it wasn't any weirder than any of the other stuff she'd already been through. "Rhodians are an empathic species. We sense the emotions of those around us, and you humans have...exceptionally loud emotions."

"Oh!" She didn't seem angry, but he knew anger could develop quickly after surprise. "Oh, that makes so much sense!"

"It does?" Charlie was a little bewildered, but he wasn't going to complain. "I should clarify, this doesn't mean I can hear your thoughts. Just your feelings. In case you were worried..."

"It's so obvious," April said. "Now you've told me, I can think of so many times that you've known how I've felt. Wasn't that why you spoke to me in the first place?"

"I suppose, yes." Charlie felt relief flood him, and he grinned. "Thank you for understanding." He should have known that April would. April was the least judgemental person he knew.

"I don't see why I wouldn't understand really," April said, starting on towards her next class. "It's not even a weird alien thing, it's not like you're hiding a bunch of spikes with venom or anything."

"Aha...yeah." Charlie decided not to mention his true form to her, and instead just set off towards his next class as well. That was one more person told; two more to go.

-

It was Tanya, with her endless intelligence, who figured it out next. She'd taken to asking him as many questions as she could about Rhodia, so many that there were plenty he couldn't even answer. But he told her everything he could, which inevitably meant that a few details about empathy slipped out. Not enough for most people to guess, but Tanya was smart.

"How do your politics work?" She'd asked one day, and after describing the monarchy and the court and the electorate and the local assemblies, she'd asked, "are all the politicians liars like here?"

Charlie had gone quiet then, debating how to answer the question. "Um...they can't really lie, because people would know," he said, and left it there.

"Did you have lie detectors, then?" Tanya asked. Her enthusiasm to learn about his culture really surprised him, honestly. "How did they work?"

"No, we didn't have lie detectors." Charlie bit his lip, really hoping that Tanya would stop asking questions now.

"How could you tell, then?" She asked. "If you're just really bad actors, I'd believe that. You're awful at lying." Charlie shook his head. He could feel Tanya's intense curiosity, her need to know exactly what was going on. And faint suspicion, too, as if she thought he was hiding something.

"Are you telepathic?" She asked, and her voice was so loud that Charlie was sure half the canteen now knew that he was an alien.

"No!" He glared at her as subtly as he could, trying to ignore the people who were staring. "I'm not telepathic. I can't read your thoughts, I promise."

"Oops, sorry," Tanya looked around at all the people who were looking at them and shrugged. "I mean, you knew Matteusz liked you."

"That was obvious." Charlie could have guessed that even if he wasn't an empath. The subtle smiles, the casual glances exchanged in class...it had been easy to see.

"April didn't even get that you were gay, it's not that easy to see that kind of thing," Tanya said. "I still think there's something else."

"She's just about the only person who didn't notice." Charlie purposefully ignored the second part of her statement. If she wanted to guess, he'd let her. But if she changed the subject, he'd be glad.

"So with all your politics, do all your people know when other people are lying?" Tanya asked. "Is that why you don't understand sarcasm?"

"Sort of..." Charlie shifted uncomfortably in his seat, glancing around to check that no one else was listening. She wasn't going to stop bothering him about it, so he may as well explain. "I...feel the emotions of people around me."

"Ohh," she said, and her eyes instantly lit up with probably thirty different things that made more sense to her now. "That makes sense. So politicians can literally feel when they're lying to each other."

"Yes. Pretty much. Can you keep your voice down?" Tanya always got loud whenever she got excited about something.

"Oops. Sorry, mate," she said with a grin. "I'll Skype you later." Charlie managed a smile and a nod, and prepared himself to answer a barrage of what would undoubtedly amount to about three hundred questions later.

-

Ram was the one he'd always been most worried about being judged by, and it happened that Ram was the last person to know anything about the empathy.

Charlie preferred to tell people one-on-one, and it was hard to catch Ram on his own. He still wasn't exactly pleased to be seen hanging around with Charlie. He said that everyone thought he was weird for hanging around the gay guy. It was okay for girls to be seen around him, but as soon as any footballer saw Ram with him they apparently all called him gay too. Charlie wasn't sure why. Ram clearly wasn't gay; he'd had a girlfriend until quite recently, and he'd never shown any interest in boys. Humans were just weird that way, he supposed.

Eventually, though, after one instance of staying a little later after school to deal with a rift problem, it was just him, Ram and Matteusz in the car park waiting for Ram's dad to pick him up.

Ram had been pacing back and forth whilst Charlie and Matteusz sat together on the pavement, Charlie murmuring quietly to Matteusz about if now was a good time to tell Ram. Deciding that it was, he called him over.

"Why are you angry?" He asked. Maybe he could 'kill two birds with one apricot' (as April had said once, he thought) and ask Ram about his feelings by feeling what they were.

"What?" Ram sat down on the pavement just opposite him, frowning. "I'm not angry, what are you talking about?" He was, Charlie could feel it.

"I know you're angry," he said. "Is it something I said? I apologise." There'd been a bit of shouting at Ram earlier because he'd put himself in danger.

The anger decreased a bit, replaced partially by confusion. "Alright, so I didn't appreciate being shouted at. But it doesn't matter. How'd you even know?"

"I can feel it," he said. "I can also feel when you're about to do something daft like that."

"What do you mean, you can feel it?" Ram looked like he was going to stand up again, but he thought better of it and just idly kicked at a stone on the pavement. "And hey- that 'something daft' saved your life!"

"Thank you," Charlie said, glancing over at where Matteusz was sitting. He was watching them. "Rhodians are empaths. That means I can feel other people's feelings."

Charlie felt more confusion inside of Ram, and just a touch of hostility. He did have such a tendency to lash out at things he didn't understand. "So you know what I'm thinking? Can't you like...turn it off?"

"I can't hear your thoughts," he said quickly. "Just feel your feelings. Humans are very loud, too loud to ignore."

Ram narrowed his eyes, looking Charlie up and down and then sitting back. "I'm guessing he knows," he said, nodding at Matteusz. "What about April and Tanya? What do they think?"

"Tanya had a lot of questions," Charlie said, and Ram just nodded. He supposed that was a given. "April said it made sense."

"Hmm." Charlie could sense Ram's emotions changing, struggling for a bit and then calming down. "I guess if they're okay with it, then it's fine...just don't go talking about my feelings to people, alright?"

Charlie nodded. He could listen to that. It was the same on Rhodia; you don't spread people's feelings around and they don't spread yours.

"Thanks for...for telling me, I guess." Ram was doing that expression he did when he wanted to be a decent person without damaging his reputation as someone cool, and Charlie just smiled in return. All his friends knew, and they were all fine with what he was. He couldn't have asked for anything more.


End file.
